Europe lashes Cameron’s ‘ignorant’ ‘Blazing Saddles’ strategy

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech proposing European Union reforms has earned him ridicule, with one European Parliament member saying it “was full of inconsistencies, displaying a degree of ignorance about how the EU works”.
Photo: Reuters

The PM was also lambasted by former British leader Tony Blair who called Mr Cameron’s proposal a “blazing saddles" strategy that could lead to the “disaster" of a British exit from the EU.

Said Mr Blair: “It reminds me a bit of the Mel Brooks’s comedy Blazing Saddles where the sheriff says at one point as he holds a gun to his own head: ‘If you don’t do what I want I’ll blow my brains out.’ You want to watch out that one of the 26 [other EU member states] doesn’t just say: ‘OK, go ahead.’"

Here’s how EU member nations responded:

FRANCE

"If Britain wants to leave Europe we will roll out the red carpet for you," quipped French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, a barbed riposte to Cameron who last year used the same phrase to invite wealthy French tax exiles to Britain.

Demanding changes in the rules was as if Britain had joined a football club and then suddenly said "let's play rugby", said Fabius.

Related Quotes

Company Profile

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Britain could not treat Europe like an "a la carte" menu from which it could pick and choose policies it liked.

"Cherry-picking is not an option," he said.

Other German politicians face eurosceptic pressures of their own but say Cameron pays too much attention to a loud minority.

"Cameron is using EU membership as a tactical tool for domestic politics," said Manuel Sarrazin of the German Greens.

SWEDEN

Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, said the idea of flexible membership floated by Cameron "sounds fine" but would lead to there being "no Europe at all. Just a mess".

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Guy Verhofstadt, former Belgian prime minister and now leader of the liberals in the European Parliament, said the British premier was "playing with fire" by trying to renegotiate EU membership and put it to the vote.

"His speech was full of inconsistencies, displaying a degree of ignorance about how the EU works," said Verhofstadt.

Verhofstadt said granting Britain wholesale opt-outs from common European rules and regulations risked precipitating an unravelling of the EU and its internal market.

CZECH REPUBLIC

The response to Cameron's long-awaited speech was not uniformly negative. Among sympathisers was Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas, whose government was the only one other than Britain's not to sign the fiscal pact. He said he shared Cameron's wish for a "more flexible, more open" EU.

THE NETHERLANDS

Mark Verheijen, a lawmaker from Dutch Premier Mark Rutte's Liberal Party which shares Cameron's concerns but does not want an opt-out, called it a "strong speech" with good reform ideas.